Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Tarnafin 07-17-04, 05:03 PM	I was wondering if a 3.0 Ranger/Druid could be made into a good combination? Whether as a balance, one that focuses more on ranger levels, and one on druid levels.
RaKhan 07-17-04, 05:48 PM	Originally posted by Tarnafin I was wondering if a 3.0 Ranger/Druid could be made into a good combination? Whether as a balance, one that focuses more on ranger levels, and one on druid levels. No, there's really no good combination of either. Rangers just suck in 3.0. Going straight druid would be more preferable. However, you should use a 3.5 druid just because of the skills changes in D&D 3.5. If you were to take a 1-level dip into any other class if you plan on going straight druid, only the monk would be most useful since you'd get your Wis modifier added to your AC whether you're in your natural form or in Wild Shape.
DungeonMaster 07-17-04, 07:32 PM	Originally posted by RaKhan No, there's really no good combination of either. Rangers just suck in 3.0. Going straight druid would be more preferable. However, you should use a 3.5 druid just because of the skills changes in D&D 3.5 Er... it's those skill changes and the hit die that in particular made the ranger pointless in 3.5 compared to the druid. Buy a monk belt, not a monk level. I'll whip something up, but I'm out of time today.
Tarnafin 07-17-04, 07:47 PM	Well I'm really just interested in the 3.0 versions of these classes. Also, I'm wondering how to make these two classes work best together more as a theme for a character than for an optimization of abilities.
Polaris 07-17-04, 08:34 PM	Tarnafin, About the only way to make it work is to take one (and only one) level of ranger and then go Druid the rest of the way. That was the critical flaw in the 3.0 ranger....one level frontloading. As for Druidic abilities, the 3.0 Druid had the asinine restriction that if you used any weapon except those on the Druid class list, you lost all Druid and Spell abilities (not even the Cleric suffered from this!). In short, other than taking one level (for tracking and TWF), they don't mix well at all. -Polaris
RaKhan 07-18-04, 01:14 AM	Originally posted by DungeonMaster Er... it's those skill changes and the hit die that in particular made the ranger pointless in 3.5 compared to the druid. Buy a monk belt, not a monk level. That depends if you want to rely on a worn magical item (which will have to have naturalized so you can make use of it in Wild Shape) that could be disjoined (i.e., destroy the magic enchantments on that Monk's Belt permanetly) by simply getting hit by Mordenkainen's Disjunction. MD is the great evil equalizer in the realms of magical items. It's a threat you must ponder ahead of time. I personally would prefer to have the innate ability that could never be taken away from me than relying on some temporal magical items to give it to me. Maybe that's why I like playing the monk class so much. :P Anyway, about the ranger, I was saying that the 3.5 ranger was a much better improvement over the nearly worthless 3.0 ranger. It's got abilities and free feats that will encourage you to spend all your levels in Ranger if you truly want to play a ranger; however, for decent versatility and self-sufficiency, the druid is better than the ranger.
RaKhan 07-18-04, 01:20 AM	Originally posted by Polaris Tarnafin, About the only way to make it work is to take one (and only one) level of ranger and then go Druid the rest of the way. That was the critical flaw in the 3.0 ranger....one level frontloading. As for Druidic abilities, the 3.0 Druid had the asinine restriction that if you used any weapon except those on the Druid class list, you lost all Druid and Spell abilities (not even the Cleric suffered from this!). In short, other than taking one level (for tracking and TWF), they don't mix well at all. -Polaris Agreed, and I still don't think it's that advantageous to mix druid and ranger levels even in 3.5 since you'd be either lowering your spellcasting power of your druid along with lessening your Wild Shape options or slowing your ability to get your higher-end ranger abilities.
RaKhan 07-18-04, 01:25 AM	Originally posted by Polaris Tarnafin, About the only way to make it work is to take one (and only one) level of ranger and then go Druid the rest of the way. That was the critical flaw in the 3.0 ranger....one level frontloading. As for Druidic abilities, the 3.0 Druid had the asinine restriction that if you used any weapon except those on the Druid class list, you lost all Druid and Spell abilities (not even the Cleric suffered from this!). In short, other than taking one level (for tracking and TWF), they don't mix well at all. -Polaris Agreed, and I still don't think it's that advantageous to mix druid and ranger levels even in 3.5 since you'd be either lowering your spellcasting power of your druid along with lessening your Wild Shape options or slowing your ability to get your higher-end ranger abilities.